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TeleSouth is an independent, not for profit, community association, managed by a committee of local people. TeleSouth was established with seed funding provided under the Federal Government's Telecentre Program. The primary objective of this program was to provide centres which could be instrumental in bringing modern information and communications technology to rural Australia. TeleSouth's main project areas are described below. Geographic Information Systems (GIS)In many of the very small, isolated towns in which such centres were established, the provision of basic desktop publishing and print services were eagerly accepted by their communities. In the few larger towns which received Telecentres (such as in Batemans Bay and Bega), these basic services were well provided from other institutions (such as technical colleges) and these telecentres had to look elsewhere for their technology transfer. Because of the nature of the Batemans Bay region, specifically large unpopulated and unspoiled areas of national park, state forests and wilderness areas and small populations concentrated in the small towns on the coast, TeleSouth undertook to develop skills in the emerging field of Geographic Information Systems(GIS) with a particular view to its applicability to a typical Australian rural region such as this. GIS computer software enables the creation of maps, layer by layer, to produce a model of a defined area of land (the model's domain), such a model then being used to record information about the domain or to retrieve information previously recorded. Over time, such a model could contain a wealth of information about the model's domain, information that could be used by land managers (such as councils), conservationists, land users (such as State Forests) and commercial property developers to ensure that their individual and collective roles are harmonious with ecological values and sustainable in their productive activities. TeleSouth has been instrumental in the development of such a GIS model with the Clyde River catchment as its domain. The Clyde Ecosystems Model (or Clyde EcoModel) would provide a platform for the recording of the data from the many studies that have been undertaken in past years in the catchment domain and for recording information of specific interest to conservation and land management organisations. By providing a neutral, value free recording platform it is hoped that groups with different views on acceptable land use and management practices, will at least have a common medium (the EcoModel) by means of which they can discuss these differences and develop common management and conservation policies for the domain. Internet ServicesTeleSouth sponsored the formation of the Clyde Technology Users Group (Clyde TUG), the members of which come from many communities in and around the Batemans Bay region. This group exchanges information about Internet services and experiences, as well as acting as a regional computer users forum. Free telephone support services are available for members from experienced users in the group. TeleSouth can be contacted as follows : Telephone (044) 786152 [within Australia] or (6144) 786152 [International] Fax : (044)786255 [within Australia] or (6144) 786255 [International] Mail to TeleSouth, PO Box 1002, Batemans Bay, NSW 2536, Australia. E-mail to clydetug@ozemail.com.au |